News Roundup Archive

Thursday, March 21, 2013

USIP's Science, Technology & Peacebuilding Roundup

United States Institute of Peace

 

Center of Innovation: Science, Technology and Peacebuilding

Weekly News Roundup, March 14 - 20, 2013

Table of Contents

What's New from USIP Publications

**Click here to subscribe to USIP's Media, Conflict and Peacebuilding News Roundup,
which includes a special section on Internet and social media.**


Chinese Agency: U.S. Main Source of Cyberattacks on China State Websites
The number of Chinese government websites targeted by hackers almost doubled last year to 3,016, with the largest number of attacks coming from the U.S., China's network security agency said in a report. Cyber attacks have become a priority for the U.S. after hacking on corporate networks were traced to China by American intelligence agencies and security firms such as Alexandria, Virginia-based Mandiant Corp.
See the full article (Bloomberg, 3/20/13)
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South Korea Banks and Broadcasters Hit by Possible Cyberattack
South Korea said Wednesday that it was investigating the possibility of a North Korean cyberattack after the computer networks of three broadcasters and three banks were paralyzed. The government and military raised their vigilance against more possible disruptions. But they cautioned that it was still too early to point the finger at Pyongyang.
See the full article (Washington Post, Choe Sang-Hun, 3/20/13)
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Silicon, Iron, and Shadow
The wars of the 21st century will be dominated by three overlapping types of conflict: Wars of Silicon, Wars of Iron, and Wars in the Shadows. The United States must design a new readiness and investment strategy in order to effectively deal with all three. Yet today it continues to pour scarce resources chiefly into its sphere of long-held dominance -- Wars of Iron. This is a potentially disastrous mistake, but one that can be corrected if we act now.
See the full article (Foreign Policy, David W. Barno, 3/19/13) *Foreign Policy sign-up may be required to view the full article
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New Smartphone App Lets Mexico City Cops Track Your Location
Live in Mexico's largest city or plan on visiting sometime soon? The city's police force has created an app that tracks your location, and lets you contact local beat cops at the press of a button. But if you're concerned about giving the cops access to your data, keep it off your phone. If it's a success, it may help prevent drug violence from making inroads.
See the full article (Wired, Robert Beckhusen, 3/18/13)
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The Destruction of a Nation: Syria's War Revealed in Satellite Imagery
The disintegration of a country is a hard thing to fathom. But it can be documented. DigitalGlobe, a commercial satellite company that provides high quality images of the earth, has been tracking the Syrian war with its technology; in some instances, it has been able to compare the ravaged status quo of Syria's present with the relative normalcy of a decade ago.
See the full article (TIME, Ishaan Tharoor, 3/15/13)
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The Government's Cyber Vulnerability Database was Infected with Malware
The National Institute for Standards and Technology or NIST -- the government institute responsible for bringing together critical infrastructure providers to decide the minimum cyber security standards they should adhere to under President Obama's cyber security executive order -- had to take its list of cyber vulnerabilities offline after it was discovered to be infected with malware.
See the full article (Foreign Policy, John Reed, 3/15/13) *Foreign Policy sign-up may be required to view the full article
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U.N. Drone Inquisitor Says It's Time to End Robot War in Pakistan
After days of meeting with Pakistani officials, the United Nations official investigating Washington's global campaign of drone strikes attacked the legal and strategic basis for the robotic war in its biggest battlefield. And he raised doubts over whether Americans operating the drones can actually distinguish terrorists from average Pakistanis.
See the full article (Wired, Spencer Ackerman, 3/15/13)
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Tech Guru Alec Ross Leaves the State Department
The State Department's first-ever special advisor for innovation, Alec Ross, has stepped down and returned to the private sector after a four-year effort to bring diplomacy into the 21st century. Ross looked back proudly on the work his office did to help Syrian rebels restore communications and communicate securely after the revolution started and avoid persecution by the Assad regime.
See the full article (Foreign Policy, Josh Rogin, 3/14/13) *Foreign Policy sign-up may be required to view the full article
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What's New from USIP Publications

Adapting Agricultural Extension to Peacebuilding
Can agricultural extension agents, already closely integrated into local communities, contribute to peacebuilding in countries beset by conflict? On May 1, 2012, the U.S. Institute of Peace and the National Academy of Engineering convened a workshop to explore the organizational modifications and enhanced skill and technical capacities needed to make this potentially life-changing transition.
See the full book
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Using Data Sharing to Improve Coordination in Peacebuilding
On May 23, 2012, the U.S. Institute of Peace and the National Academy of Engineering held a workshop to identify needs a data sharing system must address to successfully manage peacebuilding activities. Coordination is a challenge, and together experts in peacebuilding, information technology, and inter-agency collaboration discussed the technological, ethical and organizational challenges standing in the way of widespread adoption.
See the full book
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Click here to subscribe to USIP's Media, Conflict and Peacebuilding News Roundup,
which includes a special section on Internet and social media.

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USIP's Media, Conflict & Peacebuilding Roundup

United States Institute of Peace

 

Center of Innovation: Media, Conflict and Peacebuilding

Weekly News Roundup, March 14 - 20, 2013

Media and Journalism

Internet and Social Media

**Click here to subscribe to USIP's Science, Technology and Peacebuilding News Roundup.**


Media and Journalism

Egyptian Journalists Attacked
At least 14 journalists were attacked by police and supporters of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood group in Cairo at the weekend. The reporters were covering clashes outside the group's headquarters following attempts by anti-Brotherhood demonstrators to spray graffiti on the building. A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood later released a statement saying the journalists had provoked members of his group.
See the full article (Guardian, Roy Greenslade, 3/20/13)
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Israel Discourages Journalists from Visiting West Bank
The Israeli government is pulling out all the stops for President Obama's visit to this tiny nation, right down to special lighting cast upon the Old City of Jerusalem so that Obama can gaze over it from his hotel room at the King David. The high-wattage bulbs hold some symbolism: the idea of the visit is to portray Israel-constantly plagued by conflict and controversy-in a positive light.
See the full article (Daily Beast, Ali Gharib, 3/18/13)
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Somalia Frees Journalist Who Spoke to Woman in Rape Case
A Somali court on Sunday freed a journalist who was jailed in January for interviewing a woman who said she was gang-raped by five government soldiers, a case that sparked international condemnation over Somalia's treatment of victims of sexual violence and its commitment to press freedom.
See the full article (Reuters, 3/7/13)
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Media in Myanmar Worry that Freedom is Already Slipping Away
When Mizzima moved its headquarters to Yangon last year from India, media watchers saw it as a sign that political reform in Myanmar was real. For more than a decade, the media group has published hard-hitting coverage of military corruption and Myanmar's dismal human rights record, and many saw its arrival as a bellwether of the regime's tolerance.
See the full article (Los Angeles Times, Mark Magnier, 3/16/13)
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Catching Up With Iraq's New Journalists
As we were preparing this week's show, we wondered - what happened to the Iraqi fixers who we spoke to almost seven years ago? [On the Media] speaks to Ayub Nuri, Zeyad Kasim and Ali Fadhil about where their lives have taken them since we spoke to them in 2006.
See the full article (NPR, 3/15/13)
Click to read "Mitigating Media Incitement to Violence in Iraq," a USIP Special Report by Maureen Taylor and Theo Dolan.
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To Be Prudent Is to Be Partial
Over the years I've come to view the Kenyan media with a mixture of respect and affection. So Kenya's recent election has been a baffling, frustrating time. In the last few weeks, Western journalists - myself included - have become pariahs, lambasted by Kenya's twitterati and Facebook users for our coverage and threatened by the government with deportation.
See the full article (New York Times, Michela Wong, 3/14/13) *NYT sign-up may be required to view the full article
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Internet and Social Media

Iran's Web Censors vs. Google Reader
Google's much-dreaded announcement on the coming demise of Google Reader has alarmed users in Iran - and drawn attention to the scale and complexity of online censorship there. Google Reader is one of the few ways Iranians can access Web sites blocked in Iran. According to ViewDNS, a site that monitors servers, the government censors roughly one in three news sites and one in four of all sites on the general Web.
See the full article (Washington Post, Caitlin Dewey, 3/15/13)
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Support for Srinagar Militants Mixes With Contempt on Twitter
As news broke about the attack on a police camp near a school in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday morning, not surprisingly it spread quickly on Twitter. There was a wide range of reactions, reflective of the mixed emotions in India about the Kashmir Valley, and the role the government plays there.
See the full article (New York Times, Mallavika Vyawahare, 3/14/13) *NYT sign-up may be required to view the full article
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Tech Guru Alec Ross Leaves the State Department
The State Department's first-ever special advisor for innovation, Alec Ross, has stepped down and returned to the private sector after a four-year effort to bring diplomacy into the 21st century. His principal projects were "21st Century Statecraft," an effort to integrate technology into diplomacy and reach out to new communities, and "Civil Society 2.0," a project that helped more than 1,100 NGOs in over 80 countries build online communities.
See the full article (Foreign Policy, Josh Rogin, 3/14/13) *Foreign Policy sign-up may be required to view the full article
Click to read about USIP's upcoming event "Breaking Barriers" on April 4 at 9:00am.
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Kenya Sees Tribal Words of War Erupt on Twitter, Facebook After Peaceful Presidential Election
Tribal lines are being drawn over who won Kenya's presidential election. But unlike the bloody violence that scarred the country five years ago, this time the only fighting is online. Machete strikes and bows and arrows are being replaced by bitter Tweets and angry status updates. Some officials worry that the virtual feuding could trigger real-life fighting.
See the full article (AP, 3/14/13)
[Return to top] | [Return to section]

 

Click here to subscribe to USIP's Science, Technology and Peacebuilding News Roundup.

Did we miss anything?

 

 


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